"I have blind optimism" — The Amazing Race star Josiah explains why he hesitated to use the Express Pass

The Amazing Race contestants Alyssa and Josiah recently appeared on season 27 alum Justin Scheman's YouTube channel, in a video titled, Amazing Race Season 37 Episode 10 with Alyssa & Josiah, on May 12, 2025. In the video, the couple reflected on the France leg and the struggles they faced during the race. One of those was their disagreement regarding the Express Pass.

While Alyssa wanted to use it to get a lead on their opponents, Josiah wished to save it for later. Looking back on his initial hesitation, Josiah said:

"Alyssa and I have differences in personalities. We're pretty different in our personalities, where if I get to a stressful situation, I have blind optimism. I think it's gonna work out great. I see everything that's going to go right, and Alyssa gets to a stressful situation, and she sees everything that could go wrong, and we're both right."

The incident happened during the cheese-tasting task in episode 10 of The Amazing Race season 37, which aired on May 7. As Josiah reflected on it, he admitted he had made the mistake of wanting to save the Pass for the Detour later, instead of using it for the challenge at hand. He added that he undermined the intensity of the task by being optimistic.

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"I needed to support her in that time" — The Amazing Race fame Josiah admits he should have listened to his wife

Episode 10 of The Amazing Race saw Alyssa and Josiah debating whether to use their Express Pass. After seeing the other teams, who were 40 minutes ahead of them, struggle to identify the nine cheeses, Alyssa suggested they use their advantage to overtake everybody else. However, Josiah was certain they could complete the challenge.

Looking back on the task, Alyssa said she understood Josiah's logic because he was good with memory tasks, and they both loved cheese. However, Josiah said he was "really wrong" in thinking that way when he should have listened to Alyssa's strategy, instead of being hopeful about the task. The Amazing Race star added that his way of thinking was "dumb."

Josiah owned up to his mistake and said he should have listened to Alyssa.

"I needed to support her in that time. We were on two different tracks in that moment, and one of us had to cave, and it should've been me. It should've been me," he stated.

He refused to blame Alyssa because he believed she was rightfully focused on using the Express Pass rather than completing the challenge.

In the episode, Alyssa and Josiah were shown using their advantage after three teams—Han and Holden, Jack and Carson, and Jonathan and Ana — had already left for the next task. When the interviewer asked the pair if they could have saved the Pass, since they defeated the purpose of the advantage by allowing other teams to gain a lead, Alyssa mentioned:

"We didn't want these teams to get further and further ahead of us and it really just being us versus Mark and Brett fighting for last. Even though it looks like those teams left a long time before us, once that last team, Jonathan and Ana, were out of there, we left pretty much right away."

However, she recalled feeling worried after seeing Mark and Brett finish the task right after and catch up to them. Hearing that, Josiah added that had they not used the Pass and watched Mark and Brett overtake them, the "pressure" and stress would have been "mind-numbing."

Although The Amazing Race star admitted that it was the "wrong use" of the Express Pass, he was pleased it helped them retain their position in the race.

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The Amazing Race season 37 episodes are available to stream on Paramount+.